Automotive vehicles commonly employ a series of electrical connectors for connecting power to various high current electrical devices, such as headlamps, solenoids, motors, and other electrically operated devices. High current electrical connectors, such as those drawing 5 amps or greater, typically employ a relay that turns on and off the electrical device connected thereto in response to control signals. Each electrical connector generally has limited signal processing capability so that it may perform a designated switching operation pursuant to the externally generated control signal. Relay based electrical connectors are widely known and are commonly used in automotive vehicles.
Conventional electrical connectors generally employ a pair of load terminals, e.g., contact pins, for electrically connecting the connector to a designated load device. One of the terminals provides a feed forward current path, while the other terminal provides a feed back current path. In addition, conventional relay based electrical connectors typically employ a third terminal, which is a dedicated programming terminal, that enables the electrical connector to be programmed during or following the manufacture of the connector. Examples of programmed data typically include address, function, and calibration information. The programming operation is generally performed at the manufacturing site where a header, a series of wires, and a series of the connectors to be programmed are connected together. The dedicated programming terminal of each electrical connector is generally connected to a programming rig that provides a signal to the connector to initiate the programming of that particular connector. Once the programming operation is complete, the dedicated programming terminal generally is no longer employed, and thereafter remains unused.
As a consequence, the aforementioned conventional relay based connectors require three separate electrical terminals, including the dedicated programming terminal which is generally not employed during the operation of the device. The dedicated programming terminal adds to the overall cost, size, and complexity of the connector. As a result, it is therefore desirably to provide for a programmable relay based connector that employs a minimal number of electrical terminals.